A new study reveals that 43% of retailers across the globe have suffered a data breach in the past year, prompting nearly three quarters of retailers to increase investment in IT security.

According to the '2017 Thales Data Threat Report - Retail Edition', 43% of retailers have suffered an IT breach in the past year. Furthermore, 60% of retailers reported having been breached at some point in the past and 88% believe they are at risk of experiencing a breach in the future.

"These distressing breach rates serve as stark proof that data on any system can be attacked and compromised," said Garrett Bekker, principal analyst for information security at 451 Research and who worked on the study with Thales.

On a more positive note, 73% of retailers plan to increase investment in IT security. Two-thirds of those (64%) are currently working on encrypting data, 40% are tokenizing data and 36% are implementing a migration project, found the study.

"With tremendous sets of detailed customer behavior and personal information in their custody, retailers are a prime target for hackers so should look to invest more in data-centric protection," said Peter Galvin, vice president of strategy at Thales e-Security. "And as retailers dive head first into new technologies, data security must be a top priority as they continue to pursue their digital transformation."

A recent report from Juniper Research found that, despite significant investment in cybersecurity, data breaches will have cost the global business community $8trillion by 2022, mostly in fines, lost businesses and remediation costs.